Some Famous Highly-Successful Entrepreneurs
Volume 13, Number 4
Issue 604
Though Benjamin Franklin said, "time is money," and Aristotle Onassis said "if women didn't exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning," I think playwright Neil Simon had it right when he said, "money brings some happiness but after a certain point, it just brings more money."
The poet Carl Sandburg said "money buys everything except love, personality, freedom, immortality, silence and peace" while playwright Oscar Wilde said when he was young he thought money was the most important thing and when he was older he knew it was.
Spike Milligan, a famous British actor and comic who died in 2002 at age 82, said, "money can't buy friends but it can get you a better class of enemies."
Benjamin Franklin also said, "creditors have better memories than debtors." Perhaps he should have met Senator Everett Dirksen who, when asked to comment about the Federal budget, said, "A billion here, a billion there-pretty soon it all adds up to real money."
Andrew Carnegie stated that if he had his life to live over he'd be a thirty-dollar-a-week librarian. Years before, Carnegie had once been harangued by a socialist about the concept of the redistribution of wealth. He then asked his secretary for two numbers-the world's population and the value of all his assets. Dividing the value of his assets by the world's pollution, he then told his secretary to "give this gentleman 16 cents-that is his share of my net worth.
An 18th and early 19th century newspaper publisher, James Gordon Bennett always dined on lamb chops at the same table at the same restaurant when he was in Monte Carlo. One evening the table was occupied, so he offered the owner an outrageous impulsive price of $40,000 for the restaurant, which was accepted and he received a quick handwritten deed. He then ordered the customers to leave and he ate his lamb chops. He then gave the deed to the waiter as a tip, who quit and opened up his own place. James Gordon Bennett also once gave a $14,000 tip to a porter on a French train, he, too, quit and opened his own restaurant.
In the 1950s, an amateur geologist named Charles Steen moved his wife and children to a remote section of Utah so he could prospect for Uranium. As the months passed without finding anything, his money ran out and the family often went hungry. Charles Steen was impassioned about what he believed in and the family stayed, finally striking a rich vein of uranium that made him a multi-millionaire. As soon as he could, he bought with his new wealth the bank in Colorado that had refused him a $200 loan.
When 25-year-old Charles Lindbergh flew solo from New York to Paris, the world hailed him as a hero. It is less remembered that a wealthy French entrepreneur named Raymond Orteig had gotten the idea for a trans-Atlantic flight going by offering a $25,000 prize to the first person to do it.
The world's most famous stamp--the unique 1-cent British Magenta--has a very interesting story. In 1873, a 12-year local boy discovered an octagon-shaped stamp, in his family's attic. It was in poor condition, ink-smudged and slightly damaged. Soon after, he sold the stamp to a local stamp collector for a mere six shillings. Over the years it became apparent that this stamp was unique, as no other copy was ever discovered. It changed hands several times over the years before being purchased by automobile magnate Count Philippe von Ferrari in 1922 for $30,000. The stamp was subsequently sold to stamp dealer Irwin Weinberg, who made the purchase in 1970 for $280,000. The world's rarest and most valuable stamp is presently thought to be owned by eccentric millionaire John E. duPont who bought it at auction in 1980 for $935,000. John E. duPont is currently serving a 30-year sentence for a murder conviction after being convicted of shooting David Schultz, a 1984 Olympic gold medallist weight lifter. Linn's Stamp News--the weekly publication for the philatelic world--recently contained a well-researched article stating that the whereabouts of Mr. duPont's stamp collection and--just as importantly--its condition are unknown.
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy born in 1890 and died in 1995--mother of the three power brothers John, Robert and Edward--once ordered a cook not to fix a baked potato because of the cost of turning on the oven. She habitually returned used cosmetics to the local drugstore for credit. Rose Kennedy was, however, obsessed that each of her 29 grandchildren always received a check on their birthdays-for $15. I guess she had the extra money to do that because as the mother of the 35th President, she never tipped bellboys, porters, tax drivers or hotel maids. Instead, Rose Kennedy carried with her a supply of specially printed cards that had a picture of President Kennedy. She autographed the cards and handed them out in lieu of tips, saying, "Save this, someday it will be worth more than money."
In 1956, a man named Warren Buffett rounded up seven people in Omaha, Nebraska, including his Sister Doris and Aunt Alice, raising $105,000 in the process to officially created Buffet Associates. But did you know that HE only put in $100 for his share? Before the end of the year, he was managing around $300,000 in capital. He purchased a house for $31,500 in 1957 and still lives there today. His wife once said, "All Warren needs to be happy is a book and a sixty-watt light bulb."
David B. Robinson, CPA
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